Besson was nominated and won many awards and distinctions from the foreign press. He is considered the creator of the so-called “Cinema du look” movement in French film. Today it celebrates its 62nd birthday.
As we say “bricklayer, plasterer, acrobat …”. This Polish saying fits perfectly with Luc Besson. He is a director, screenwriter and film producer. More than once, Besson fulfilled all functions in one film ( Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets , Lucy , The Amazing Adventures of Adela Blanc-Sec ). His work spans over twenty-six years and includes at least fifty films. He is the creator of, among others The Great Blue , the greatest success of French cinema in the 1980s. Besson’s most famous productions are Nikita , Leon the Professional , The Fifth Element , Joan of Arc. In 2000 he became the owner of the EuropaCorp film company. When talking about his artistic talents, we cannot ignore his writing abilities. In 2002, he wrote a book for children, Artur and Minimki, and in the following years two more parts of the boy’s adventures were written. He made three film adaptations based on this series. Additionally, Luc takes care of all the photos for his films himself. Fortunately, Besson has more talents than wives (3 ex-wives plus one current, making us a result of 4, and we already mentioned five abilities).
How were the greatest works of this famous director created? Willingness to show a new world or history? Detachment from reality? Most likely. However, he began to create his first stories simply out of boredom. An early-written story became the backdrop for the later screenplay of The Fifth Element (1997) , one of his most popular films. The production is inspired by French comic books that Besson read as a teenager and reportedly was already working on the first sketches of The Big Blue . Besson directed and co-wrote the screenplay for this science fiction thriller with screenwriter Robert Mark Kamen.
Critics mention Besson as a key figure of the Cinéma du look movement, a specific, highly visual movement produced in the 1980s and early 1990s. Metro (1985), Big Blue (1988) and Nikita (1990) belong to this style school. The term was coined by critic Raphaël Bassan in an essay published in 1989 in La Revue du Cinema No. 449. A supporter of experimental cinema and friend of New Wave (“nouvelle vague”) directors, Bassan placed Besson along with two other directors who shared “le look. ” These directors were later described as preferring style over content and spectacle over narration.
During his career, Besson has been recognized many times. He won the Best Director and Best French Director awards for his film The Fifth Element (1997) . He was nominated for the César Award for Best Director and Best Film for Leon the Professional (1994) and Joan of Arc (1999). These are just a few of the many highlights.
Luc Besson celebrates his 62nd birthday today and on this occasion we wish to wish you a lot of health, happiness, making dreams come true and new inspirations, which will turn into another cinematic masterpieces!